We wrote about this district in an earlier post, and are heartened to see they have seen the light. Minnesota's largest school district has developed a model to address harassment and bullying of GLBT students that may serve as a national template. Stay tuned and see if this momentum even carries into the deep south bastions of homophobia.

How this girls T-shirt disrupts the orderly operation of the school is beyond our comprehension. Supreme Court rulings put the burden of proof on the school district...not left to the whim of some misguided school administrator. Lynn High School VICE Principal (vice...that explains it!) Joe O'Hagan told the girl that the shirt was political and offended some people. WE find Gingrich for President buttons highly offensive and obviously political, but support the right to wear them. Say it ain't so Joe!

We have commented about this issue before...nothing new except that college students are rightfully ticked off at higher costs, debt, and no professional jobs in sight. We hope that college students will unite and engage in protests around the country. Cuts to education are the worst case scenario pre-K through post graduate.

Finally...Alabama has exposed the crew of Peanuts for what they are...illegal immigrants. We say round up Linus, Lucy, Charlie Brown, Schroeder, and Pig Pen and deport them. These are clearly a bunch of illegals brought to the US by Charles Schultz. They never seem to age either which suggests an alien like quality!
Actually, the get tough Alabama law requires that all companies doing business with the state provide documentation that no illegals work for them. The company in NYC that holds the rights to the play was reluctant to provide the required paperwork to Pelham High School, holding up production. The show must go on! This will be the most important theatrical performance ever in the state of Alabama! We also think that the use of a football requires approval by Crimson Tide coach Nick Sayban.

For anyone who has not explored the Khan Academy offering of courses, free, on-line, interactive and highly effective...get moving on this. We are fully behind this project and note the rapid expansion of courses beyond the sciences and math. School districts need to take note as well...beats sitting in lectures with limited and untimely corrective feedback and lack of student engagement. Get on the Khan and leave no child behind!

Looks like the old bait and switch to us! Minnesota-based Junkyard Prophet, a Christian youth ministry promised an anti-bullying and anti-drug message at the assembly in Dunkerton, Iowa. Instead, the kids got lectured on the evils of homosexuality and pre-marital sex. The group told the high school students that "anyone who is gay will die before they reach age 42." The students are pissed and the superintendent promised that this will never happen again. We hope these Christian prophets did not get paid for the shameless performance and that they will actually deliver on what a youth ministry should promise...lots of religious bullshit! Oh wait, they did deliver!
STORY: 'Junkyard Prophet' Shocks Iowa School With Anti-Gay Messages At Assembly (VIDEO)

Given the overwhelming body of evidence that points to the power or high quality early childhood education, it saddens us to think that there are "coveted spots" and that parents have to pitch tents to get kids into kindergarten classrooms. This investment pays high dividends and the folks in Sacramento need to be provided with unfettered access. We would advocate that all of the parents "occupy" the school grounds until all children are registered.

Jada's controversial essay made "comparisons between a slavemaster discouraging Frederick Douglass from learning to read and modern education struggles in her district." Her voice joins the thousands who have studied unequal access to education based on race and socio-economic status...but she was summarily harassed at school, transferred to another school where her parents saw little difference and an unsafe environment. While the superintendent admits they didn't handle her free speech very well (no kidding) he at least recognizes her right to dissent. The issue here is not only that the school does not seem to welcome free speech...they don't seem to like students to tell it like it is either!

Brother (not sister) Sledge is one of a dirty dozen individuals under a federal investigation. The former assistant superintendent of Pontiac Schools has been indicted for money laundering and theft of $236,000 of school funds. The district is 24 million in debt and it looks like they have misspent or spent without proper authorization ten's of millions. Now that's educational leadership at its best! Is this why GM no longer manufactures Pontiacs?